Weekend Work: Time to plant garlic

What to do

Plant cloves of garlic, choosing a sunny, well-drained site with light soil. Break a head of garlic into separate cloves and push them one by one into the ground. Set them 20cm (8in) apart.

Tree mallows should be cut down this month to about 60cm (24in). If they are still flowering, delay the cutting down until they have finished. You need nodal cuttings about 13cm (5in) long, taken from shoots of semi-ripe wood. Make the cut through the slight bulge where the leaves join the stem and pull off the bottom leaves before potting up the cuttings singly. Keep them in a greenhouse or frost-free frame.

What to see

If you are in Devon this month, Sherwood, Newton St Cyres, Exeter, is open every Sunday (2-5pm), £4. It's a woodland garden, made over the past 40 years, and covers the sides of two steep valleys, with magnificent trees and shrubs underplanted with swathes of perennials. Call 01392 851216 or e-mail prue@sherwoodgarden.eclipse.co.uk.